Religion News: Church sells land on World Trade Center site

Weekly religion rail, with items on St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, an accident at a Wiccan ceremony and more.

$20 million offered to church destroyed on 9/11

Leaders of a church destroyed when the South Tower of the World Trade Center fell on Sept. 11, 2001, have agreed to surrender the land to government agencies dedicated to rebuilding Ground Zero.

According to wire reports, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey offered $20 million to St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which stood on a 1,200-square-foot lot on the edge of the World Trade Center site.

The leaders of the 300-member congregation have been negotiating with the Port Authority for years over a price for the site. The church agreed to rebuild on a smaller lot a few blocks east.

The stalled negotiations for the church land were listed among more than a dozen obstacles to rebuilding the trade center site in a June 30 report written by the Port Authority's executive director, Christopher Ward.

Woman stabs herself in foot during Wiccan ceremony

A woman accidentally stabbed herself in the foot with a 3-foot sword while performing a Wiccan good-luck ritual at a cemetery, according to wire reports.

Katherine Gunther, 36, of Lebanon, Ind., pierced her left foot with the sword while performing the rite at Oak Hill Cemetery, police said.

Gunther said she was performing the ceremony to give thanks for a recent run of good luck. The ceremony involves the use of candles, incense and driving swords into the ground during the full moon.

Gunther said was aiming to put the sword in the ground, but hit her foot instead. She was hospitalized and later released.

Survey Says

Republican presidential candidate John McCain has a smaller lead among white evangelical Protestants than Republican George W. Bush had at a similar point in the 2004 campaign, even though Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has made few inroads into this key constituency.

About six-in-ten (61 percent) white evangelicals favor McCain while 25 percent support Obama. McCain's 36 percentage point advantage among this group is comparable to Bush's lead in 2000 but smaller than Bush's 43-point lead in 2004. – Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

A growing movement of young people is rebelling against the low expectations of today's culture by choosing to "do hard things" for the glory of God. And Alex and Brett Harris are leading the charge.

In “Do Hard Things,” the Harris twins give readers a tangible glimpse of what is possible for teens who actively resist cultural lies that limit their potential.

Combating the idea of adolescence as a vacation from responsibility, the authors weave together biblical insights, history, and modern examples to redefine the teen years as the launching pad of life. Then they map out five powerful ways teens can respond for personal and social change. -- Amazon.com

Get to Know … Katharine Jefferts Schori

Katharine Jefferts Schori (born March 26, 1954) is the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in the U.S. She is the first woman elected primate in the Anglican Communion.

She was raised in the Roman Catholic Church until 1963, when at the age of 8 her parents brought her into the Episcopal Church in conjunction with their own move out of Catholicism. She earned her Master of Divinity in 1994, and was ordained a priest that year.

In 2006, she was elected to serve a nine-year term as presiding bishop by the House of Bishops, with 95 of the 188 votes cast. The House of Deputies, consisting of deacons, priests and laity, then overwhelmingly approved the House of Bishops' election. Jefferts Schori is the first woman Primate in the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the 26th presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.

The Diocese of Fort Worth, which opposes women in holy orders, has asked the Archbishop of Canterbury for "alternative primatial oversight" (a previously unheard-of expression), analogous to the "alternative episcopal oversight" suggested in the Windsor Report. Several other conservative dioceses affiliated with the Anglican Communion Network, including some that do ordain women, have made similar requests. -- Wikipedia

The Word

Didache: a very early, short book describing Christian rituals and beliefs. -- Religioustolerance.org

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